Manufacture of fertilizers.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MANUFACTURE OF FERTILIZERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 23, 1907.

Patented March 2, 1909.

Serial No. 385,198. (Specimens) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID SHIELDS, residing at Edgeworth borough, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Fertilizers, of which improvement the following is a specification.

The invention or discovery herein described relates to the manufacture of fertilizers, and, generally stated, consists in so treating carbonaceous substances, such as bituminous, anthracite or cannel coal, lignite, peat, culm, etc., and without material disintegration, as to render them capable of ab sorbing or taking up other substances, which render the product an efficient fertilizer.

It also consists in causing said carbonaceous substances, when so treated, to take up or absorb such other substances.

It also consists in the new and improved fertilizer which is the product of the said method of manufacture.

In the practice of the invention the carbonaceous substance should first be broken u or ground to such degree of fineness as will hasten or facilitate the operations hereinafter described. The desired degree of fineness depends upon the density of the substance. Thus bituminous coal of the density of that found in western Pennsylvania should be ground or otherwise divided to a degree of fineness which will allow it to pass through a sieve or screen of about sixteen meshes to the square inch. Anthracite coal, being more dense and drier, should be more finely divided, approximately to a condition which will ermit its passage through a screen of ifty meshes to the square inch. Peat, on the other hand, may be broken up sufliciently to permit its passage through an eight-mesh screen. Other carbonaceous substances will be in like manner broken up to the proper degree, according to their density, which may be readily determined by those skilled in the art from the foregoing directions. When the carbonaceous substance has been thus prepared, I mix thoroughly with it a non-caustic alkaline solution. For this pur pose I have obtained good resultsfrom the use of either soda (carbonate), borax or alum. The ercentage of the alkali employed may e somewhat varied, but the solution must be non-caustic, the urpose being to render the carbonaceous su stance I absorbent without material disintegration or loss of its component elements or gases beyond such as is necessary to render it absorbent. In treating the bituminous coal above referred to I have attained satisfactory results by the mixture with nineteen hundred and twenty pounds of the ground coal, of forty pounds of the salt, dissolved in approximately five hundred and seventy pounds of water, the salt being thus about two per cent., and the water about thirty per cent. of the weight of the coal. The above described mixture is then placed in a closed vessel, and submitted to a temperature of about one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit for a su'l'licient time to effect the desired reaction. It is preferred to use steam or a hot water bath for heating the mixture. After the mixture has been held at the desired temperature sufficiently long, fortyeight hours being ordinarily sullicient, it should be thoroughly dried.

By the above described treatment the carbonaceous substance is rendered absorbent, so as to be capable of taking up or absorbing the substances to be added, and without material disintegration or loss of its component elements.

The preferred substance to be added is a mineral salt or salts, which are dissolved in water and mixed with the absorbent carbonaceous substance. I have attained good results by the employment of such salt or salts in amount about two per cent, by weight, of the softened carbonaceous substance, but the percentage employed may be considerably varied. The invention is therefore not limited in this respect. In point of both economy and efficiency I prefer to employ, where available, the salt water flowing from oil or gas wells or mines. This water holds in solution usually chlorid of sodium, chlorid of calcium, chlorid of magnesium, and other mineral salts; and sufficient of it should be added to the carbonaceous substance to obtain in the product the desired percentage of the salts. Since the carbonaceous substance, when mixed with the salt solution, is in an absorbent condition, the latter will be thoroughly mingled and combined with the former. The mixture should then be placed in a closed vessel and subjected to a temperature of about one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit, preferably in a steam or hot water bath, for about forty-eight hours, and- 'and in any suitable proportions, since the then dried, preferably by the employment of I dry heat, so as to avoid any appreciable fermentation or decomposition. Other substances possessing fertilizing qualities may be added to the carbonaceous substance,

invention resides in the treatment of the carbonaceous substance with a non-caustic alkaline solution, in order to render it capable of absorbing the substances desired to be added, and without material disintegration. It also further consists in the addition to the treated carbonaceous material of a mineral salt 'or salts, or other substance having fertilizing qualities, whereby the mass is rendered an efficient fertilizer. The alkaline substances used in initially treating the car bonaceous substance may also be beneficial to plant growth.

It has heretofore been proposed to impregnate the softer carbonaceous substances, such as peat, with various other substances having the quality of plant food, but the methods employed for this purpose have all been substantially different from that herein described. In such methods also, the carbonaceous substance has usually been subj ected to fermentation, or has been otherwise disintegrated or broken up, involving the loss of valuable component elements. It is still further believed that such prior methods have not been adapted to the manufacture of fertilizer from the harder or more dense carbonaceous substances, such as coal in its various forms, and i believe that i am the first to so treat bituminous and anthracite coal as to render such substances absorbent and capable of taking up mineral salts or other fertilizing substances, and without material disintegration or loss of their component elements.

The product of the above described meth 0d of manufacture, that is, the mixture of a carbonaceous substance rendered absorbent without material disintegration with a min eral salt or salts, or other fertilizing substance, has been found to be a very efficient fertilizer.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of manufacturing fertilizer which consists in first treating carbonaceous material by mingling with it a non-caustic alkaline solution and subjecting the mixture to heat, thereby rendering the carbonaceous material absorbent, without disintegration and then causing the treated material to ab sorb a fertilizing substance.

2. The method of manufacturing fertilizer which consists in first treating carbonaceous material by mingling with it a non-caustic alkaline solution and subjecting the mixture to heat thereby rendering the carbonaceous material absorbent without disintegration, adding to the treated material a solution containing a fertilizing substance, heating the mass, and then drying without fermentation.

3. T he method of manufacturing fertilizer which consists in first treating carbonaceous material by mingling with it a non-caustic alkaline solution and subjecting the mixture to heat, thereby rendering the carbonaceous material absorbent without disintegration, and then mixing with the treated material a mineral salt.

4:. The method of manufacturing fertilizer which consists in first treating carbonaceous material by mingling with it a non-caustic alkaline solution and subjecting the mixture to heat, thereby rendering the carbonaceous material absorbent without disintegration, adding to the treated material a solution containing a mineral salt, heating the mass, and then drying without fermentation.

5. The method of manufacturing fertilizer having coal as a base, which consists in rendering the coal absorbent without disintegration, and then adding thereto a fertilizing substance.

6. The method of manufacturing fertilizer having coal as a base, which consists in rendering the coal absorbent without disintegration, and causing it to absorb a mineral salt.

7. The method of manufacturing fertilizer having coal as a base, which consists in first treating the coal by mingling with it a noncaustic alkaline solution and subjecting the mixture to heat, thereby rendering the carbonaceous material absorbent without disintegration, adding to the treated coal a solution containing a mineral salt, subjecting the mass to heat, and then drying.

In testimonygwhereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

DAVID SHIELDS.

l Vitnesses:

CHARLES BARNETT, F. J. TOMASSON. 

